


A Deal With The Devil

by Darth0s



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-06
Updated: 2020-11-06
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:47:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27418246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Darth0s/pseuds/Darth0s
Summary: Lusciously rich, auburn locks? Check. Piercingly bright, silver eyes? Check. A fierce, feral glare that made him want to run to his locker and hide away inside forever? Oh, very much check. Mortal!Artemis AU Three-Shot. Complete.
Relationships: Artemis/Percy Jackson
Comments: 2
Kudos: 43





	1. Percy I

Lusciously rich, auburn locks? Check.

Piercingly bright, silver eyes? Check.

A fierce, feral glare that made him want to run to his locker and hide away inside forever? Oh, very much check.

In a cafeteria full of screaming, uncouth teens, that generally he was happy to count himself amongst, she was a total fish out of water. An effortlessly graceful fish, mind, but a fish nonetheless. A shark, maybe. But one of the smaller, more unassuming ones, gliding around in the pelagic quietly, before BAM, those teeth had taken a big chunk out of your side, and she was gone before you had a chance to react.

It was apt. He'd seen her reduce a 7th grader to tears.

To his right, the rowdiest, loudest bunch of kids in the place beckoned him over invitingly, but his mind was hell-bent on a different, tougher 'crowd'. He sent his friends a mischievous, 'Percy-patented' wink, and turned his attention to the loner, sitting on the deserted table smack-bang in the middle of the room.

The hostility rolled off her in passive droves, creating an invisible bubble that prevented anyone from getting close, and though she had joined the school in the middle of the year, the rest of the kids had quickly learned not to mess with her, or even talk to her. She just wasn't interested.

Percy watched her brow scrunch cutely as she narrowed her eyes at the math homework in front of her, apparently trying to make it spontaneously combust. He'd resorted to that many times before, with no success, and that was without kids screaming in his ear whilst he tried to concentrate. How she managed it with cartons of chocolate milk flying across the room, he didn't know.

In fact, he didn't know anything about her. Nothing meaningful, anyway. He'd heard she'd beaten up a guy in the year above, a 12th grader, after he'd tried hitting on her in the library. The school had been abuzz for weeks after, and rumours spread like the plague. Apparently she was a witch, a demon, a runaway criminal, and secret agent all in one. Still, the football team had lost their star quarterback to a broken wrist, and she'd been banned from the library for life.

Percy remembered being pretty impressed, and somewhat annoyed he hadn't been there to witness it. The library had never been so alive before that day, or since.

He gave his friends another glance, and they stared back silently at the idiot before them, wordlessly begging him not to. His lips tugged backwards into a wide, lopsided grin; their critical, daring looks making the decision for him, and their audible groans when he turned to the auburn-haired goddess only spurred him on.

One of the girl's eyes twitched as he approached, and his frame casted a noticeable shadow over her seated, haunched figure. This seemed to annoy her even more than the unintelligible mass of numbers in front of her.

"Do you mind?" she growled, voice low, dangerous, and oh-so perfect to Percy's ears. It sent a shiver down his spine, and the hairs on his neck stood on end, at the simple words. Her ferocity didn't deter him. In fact, it only made his interest in her grow, and while he noticed her fists clench tightly, those chilling, silver orbs didn't leave the homework, because, after all, a single utterance from her lips was enough to send anyone who got too close scurrying away.

But not Percy.

"Do I mind sitting down? Not at all! Thanks for the invite," he chirped, annoyingly bright and sprightly, even for his standards, before seating himself on the opposite bench, slightly off to the side, out of her immediate personal space. He wasn't an inconsiderate idiot, after all.

The instant he touched down, the rambunctious chatter of the cafeteria died to a light whisper, and suddenly, there were fifty pairs of eyes all looking in his direction, just waiting for the inevitable explosion, the timer of which was gradually counting down.

Those two, precious ingots of silver flickered up, and bored straight through his forehead, laying bare his secrets, until there was nothing left beneath that windswept mop of raven hair.

Her second line of defence. 'Make them feel so insignificant and uncomfortable that they'll run away to their mama's and leave you in peace'.

Percy was mentally prepared for it, however, and while those two orbs blazed brightly enough to melt him through and through, they only succeeded in making his heart skip a beat. After all, Percy's mind was always empty.

His lips tugged backwards in response to her offensive-defence, widening the smirk that plastered his face.

The girl was pissed.

For a split second, Percy really thought she was going to explode, such was the way her arms trembled, and her fists clenched; knuckles white against the ball-point pen she was holding.

The room was eerily silent, and all of the occupants watched with bated breath, just waiting for the inevitable reaction from the school's 'black sheep'. Percy tuned them out, though. His attention was held utterly by the person in front of him, though he was quite aware that a fist may have been flying towards his face at any second.

It didn't, and the room was vaguely disappointed at this fact.

The girl exhaled heavily through her nose, closing her eyes for a second or two, seemingly doing the classic 'count to ten' routine. Percy had his suspicions that she was on very thin ice with either her parents, or the school itself, when it came to behaviour. He was relying on it to protect him from any major physical harm. The risk was wholly worth it.

Her eyes opened, and immediately narrowed on the sea-green pair before her.

"There are plenty of other seats. Why don't you sit, for example, with your friends?" she chewed out quietly, rolling the words in her mouth as though the mere act of talking to another human-being was distasteful enough.

Percy gave a casual shrug, silently revelling in his small victory of not being slapped.

"They're way too loud. Was hoping for some quieter company, ya know?" he replied neutrally, making sure his friends heard him. He could picture the rolling of eyes behind his back as clear as day.

"I am not 'company', and this is my table. I suggest you get lost," she warned, gritting her teeth, but Percy was on a roll, immune to her threatening demeanour now that he knew she wouldn't hurt him unless he got close.

"Last I checked, the school owned these tables, but if it makes you more comfortable, I won't say another word," he tempted, in full Persassy mode.

The eyes of the room switched to the girl, sensing the 'make or break' moment in the exchange. If Percy was going to die, it was going to be within the next three seconds.

Once more, he could see the anger boil, and once more he was left surprised at her ability to shrug it off. The rage-fueled trembling ceased as quickly as it started, and the girl exhaled, breathing away her issues more expertly than Percy ever could.

"Fine," she eventually decided, realising that he probably had no ulterior motive, before leaning in towards her homework without a moments' recourse, and glaring at it more fiercely than when he had arrived. A collective groan of disappointment quickly passed like a wave through the room, as the nosy spectators realised there would be no blood spilled that day. Percy almost felt sorry for them.

Still, his immediate aim was complete, and it gave him a chance to look the auburn-haired 'mystery' over, without fear of getting an arrow through the eye.

He stood by his original thoughts; she was effortlessly pretty. From her rose-tinted cheeks (his fault) across that pale complexion, to those luscious, all-natural, red locks of hair; he'd never seen anyone like her, except maybe on a TV screen. In that regard, she looked utterly out of place, but if anything, her passive non-conformity drew him to her like a Siren's call. Maybe he was a masochist.

That said, it wasn't her appearance that wholly interested him, striking though it was. Percy didn't consider himself shallow. Obtuse maybe, but never shallow. Rather, it was the entire mystery that came with her that held his attention. She was smart in the classroom, and utterly without peers when it came to sports and other physical activities. She should have been the most popular person in the whole school, and yet, whenever Percy saw her, she had a permanent scowl etched on her face, and though no one else could see it, there was a certain sadness to her striking eyes that made him want to run up to her and hug away whatever her problems were. He never would, though, out of fear of...well...dying. But still, he was determined to find out what made her tick.

"Are you even listening, or is that head full of mushy kelp?" the voice snapped, forcing Percy back to reality.

The girl was glaring at him again.

"Huh? Sorry? What?" he replied smartly, confused.

She rolled her eyes. "I said, can you stop drumming your fingers against the table. It's very irritating," the girl repeated, affixing him with that familiar, killer stare.

For the first time, Percy was caught off guard, snapping the guilty hand back to his lap, whilst the other ran through his messy hair habitually, a light blush appearing on his Sun-kissed skin.

"Um, sorry. ADHD. I'll keep quiet," he apologised, not having realised he was doing it.

Once more, the girl rolled her eyes, but seemingly accepted his excuse, though not without muttering something about 'boys and their seaweed-brains' under her breath, before she returned to glaring at her math homework.

True to his word, Percy made sure he wasn't a further distraction to her, though this meant he had to look away from her simmering figure, or else he would lose himself once again. Gradually, the volume of chatter in the cafeteria reached its previous, party levels, and by the time the bell rang, Percy's eyes were closed.

There was a chorus of chairs scraping against the floor, in that hideous, 'chalk-on-blackboard' way, and though he couldn't see her, Percy sensed the girl shifting as quietly as possible, movements masked by the ear-wrenching sound. She was definitely light-footed, with the grace of a ballet dancer, but the ferocity of an MMA fighter. It only deepened his interest in her.

"See you tomorrow, Artemis," he said politely, with just a hint of smugness, keeping his eyes closed.

There was a frigid pause as Artemis froze, apparently failing in her mission to escape without him talking to her.

"I hope not..." she then quietly muttered, before grabbing her bag and silently stalking her way through the parted sea of students, leaving Percy with a fleeting glimpse of her retreating figure, and a permanent smile painted on his lips.

With the ice broken, and knowing she likely wouldn't stab him on sight if he got close, Percy moved on to the second part of his plan to make Artemis loosen up a little. It may have sounded sinister, or weird, to anyone else, which was partly why he hadn't really told his friends anything, but his intentions were pure. He simply refused to believe that Artemis was a bad person at heart, and where others before him had failed, he would succeed. Wasn't like he had anything else going for him.

The next morning was a drag, though it might have gone a lot faster if he hadn't glanced at the clock every five-seconds, waiting for the lunch-bell to ring. When it did, he all but vaulted over his desk, and was out of the door before the teacher had a chance to finish the word 'dismissed'.

Rather unsurprisingly, Artemis was already there, in her usual spot, with that invisible force-field that kept unwanted visitors away.

He had no idea how she always got there so fast, and while he would have pegged it as another characteristic of her mysterious persona (appearing in the cafeteria ten seconds after the bell rings), his group of friends were already seated as well. Perhaps they just had more merciful teachers than he did. Not that he was particularly complaining. After all, so long as Artemis beat him to the table, there was no way she'd ever leave once he sat down. That was the same as admitting defeat, and Percy had her down as a winner to the bone, despite her frosty exterior. Sometimes, his own perceptiveness frightened him.

A collective groan went up as he approached the 'forbidden' table, though whether it was his rowdy group of friends who took the prize for being loudest, or the auburn-haired mystery, he couldn't decide.

A smirk painted his lips; Artemis was not amused.

"What do you want, Jackson?" she said lowly, as friendly as ever, sighing with a deep level of frustration as he seated himself a respectable distance away.

Those silver orbs flickered upwards, holding that same level of animosity as the day prior.

Anyone else would have flinched beneath that pointed glare, but Percy found himself yearning for it more and more.

"Nothing. Just felt like some peace and quiet again. You don't mind, do you?" he hummed spritely.

Artemis clenched her jaw. "Yes. I do. Very mu-" she began, but Percy was ready with the interruption.

"Great!" he cut her off, drumming his fists against the table loudly, whilst his cocky smirk dared her to continue the argument. Their eyes met in a silent battle of wills, sea-green on deep-silver, to see who could hold their nerve. Percy could feel the tension, as did the rest of the room, but if Artemis assumed he was a push-over before, it was the perfect moment to prove her wrong.

She eventually blinked, and looked down at her math textbook, growling under her breath about 'insufferable boys', leaving Percy to silently revel in his victory once again. He'd be lying if he said she didn't unnerve him, but it was all about swallowing fear and damning the consequences. The reward was far more important.

As before, he tuned the rest of the world out, suddenly being struck as to why he was going to so much trouble. It was not something he could easily answer himself, but he'd like to think that everyone was worth a little effort on his part, and if he couldn't get through to Artemis by the end of the week? Well, at least he had seen those eyes up close. They had been burned into the back of his mind the instant he had gazed upon them.

"Jackson… You're doing it again… Kindly stop, or I'll break those fingers for you," she threatened, a slam of her palm against the table catching his attention.

His knuckles had been tapping a beat the whole time.

He glared at them as fiercely as Artemis glared at him, though she quickly went back to her reading with a shake of her head once he had held up his hands in silent apology.

The rest of lunchtime was a blur, and while Percy should have felt bored with nothing to do, he entertained himself by shifting every so often, just to see Artemis's brow scrunch in frustration. It was the simple pleasures in life.

By the time the bell rang, he was back to tapping his fingers on the table, but quite mercifully, she neglected to break his fingers before skating away.

"See you tomorrow, Artemis," he said, just before she could escape, like the annoying, persistent tick he knew he was being.

His words apparently reminded her that he was, very much, going to be sitting with her tomorrow, and Percy caught the distasteful sound just before she slipped into the mass of retreating students.

"Ugh…" she grumped.

Percy could only grin.

Wednesday was weird. Not least because the fire-alarm rang three times before lunch. A part of him found the idea of Artemis being the culprit quite amusing, in some vain attempt to escape from the inevitability of his presence. It wasn't her style, though. He certainly had her down as someone who confronts their problems head on. Preferably with a whirlwind of curse-words and fists.

She certainly proved the former when he arrived in the cafeteria, waiting for him to show up.

"Hey, Artem-" he greeted, but for once, it was she who did the cutting off.

Her palms slammed down on the table lightly. "Right, what would it take for you to leave me alone and never talk to me again for as long as you live?" she said, words flying out of her mouth quite whimsically, it had to be said.

Percy raised a brow, silently contemplating whether or not he should put the second part of his plan into motion, but quickly decided against it. She wasn't quite there yet...

His lips quickly morphed into that familiar, lop-sided grin. "Tickets for a two week cruise in the Bahamas?" he tempted hopefully, wide sea-green orbs almost begging, albeit jokingly.

Artemis wasn't amused, rolling her eyes and flipping open her textbook, much to his surprise. He expected an argument, in truth. "Just shut up, Jackson. I have a test after lunch, and I need to study…" she muttered, looking away from him, and concentrating on her studying instead.

He decided not to test her. It would have been a little harsh to scupper her grades, after all, but further than that, she seemed a tad muted than before; tired even. It was stress, he quickly realised, but it was hardly a shock. There was no way of telling what kind of pressures she was under, save the usual school-related bull.

In fact, it only strengthened his resolve when it came to getting her out of her shell. Her fighty, hissy, impenetrable shell of doom.

Lunch went by without a hitch, and though he daydreamed quite heavily, his cursed fingers decided to play ball, and not tap away at the table mindlessly. Artemis had said almost nothing, but had given him a lot to think about.

"Good luck with the test, Artemis. I'm sure you'll ace it," he called out after her quite sincerely, as the bell rang, signalling the classic 'Race-Away-From-Percy' event.

Artemis didn't acknowledge him.

Thursday was the day, even though it didn't seem like it at first. Percy dozed off during science, first period, and had worked up an all-mighty sweat during PE in the second period - nothing unusual there, but as he walked into the cafeteria during lunchtime, Artemis was nowhere to be seen.

In fact, he had been left quite troubled by her no-show, which he found quite surprising in truth. He found himself kinda missing the daily threats of broken fingers, and the persistent air of hostility. Sadly, he neither shared any classes with her, nor knew any of her classmates to find out if she was actually in.

It occupied his mind right up until the end of the day. Well. Right up until he was slammed against the lockers with enough force to dent the thin metal. The sound reverberated down the empty corridor, and while he would have fought back, the twin, silver orbs that he daydreamed about constantly were suddenly mere inches from his own.

The auburn-haired devil's warm, minty breath washed over his face, and for a few seconds, he was completely stunned. As weird as it sounded, he was surprised by just how tall she was - easily on par with his own height. The thing that didn't surprise him, however, was just how intimidating she was up close, with nothing but those moon-like iris's surrounding his vision.

For a second or two, nothing was said; their eyes did the talking - green on silver, and while Percy was vaguely aware of Artemis's forearm digging into his throat, nothing else seemed to register.

"Jackson..." she eventually said, rolling the name across her tongue in a way that Percy couldn't describe. Disapproval? Resignation? Frustration?

Maybe all three.

There was a tense pause, before Artemis withdrew her arm from his throat, and retreated a few steps.

Suddenly he could breathe, though the fact that she had even stolen his breath at all was only just registering.

"Artemis. We need to stop meeting like this," he replied, laughing a little nervously, rubbing his neck where she had quite expertly pinned him. They were in uncharted waters, he realised.

"I concur," was her simple reply, blowing a loose strand of her auburn hair from across her eyes. Percy felt the urge to reach out and tuck it behind her ear, but the fear of losing his arm stopped him.

"Didn't see you in the cafeteria today. Got a little worried," he said awkwardly, running his fingers through his own raven locks instead.

Artemis blew him off with a soft huff. "Hmpf. Mrs. Dodds kept me after class because I only got a B on my test."

Percy raised a brow. He would have killed for a B in math, but generally had to make do with a C- or a C. They were clearly held to different standards, but Percy already knew Artemis was smart. He attempted to appease her obvious disappointment. "Oh, well, a B is good! Just ignore her. I had Mrs. Dodd's last year, and was totally out to get me as well, so I wouldn't wor-" he began, but that voice cut through the air like a knife on paper.

"It's your fault, Jackson," she glared.

Percy was taken aback. "...What is?" he slowly asked, confused, but within a second, Artemis was on him, slamming him into the locker once more, with that arm digging into his throat, quite literally stealing his breath away.

"Everything! I sit in the classroom, and you're there sitting next to me! I lie on my bed reading, and you're there lying next to me! I walk in the park, and you're there walking next to me!" she hissed, lips millimetres from his own.

Again, he was taken aback. Artemis imagining him when she was alone? Her eyes swirled erratically - she was confused, he realised, and had he the balls, he might have voiced the first thing that to his head when she described the 'symptoms'.

Artemis liked him, and she was so out of touch she didn't know it.

He almost smirked. Almost. But he had the feeling that would have resulted in a black eye.

"Um...well… I'm sorry, I guess?" he said, giving another little nervous laugh.

Artemis's expression turned dark, and she slammed him back against the locker with a frustrated growl, before releasing him fully.

"This is serious, Jackson. I don't know what you've done to me, but you're going to make it right. Now. What do you want? What would it take for you to leave me alone in this hell hole?" she bargained, frowning heavily in his direction. Her obliviousness, which rivalled his own, he would freely admit, was terrifyingly adorable. He saw his opportunity, and took it.

"The school fireworks display is on Saturday. I'd like you to come with me," he said seriously.

It took a second for the invitation to register, but when it did, her voice was dangerously low. "A date?" she whispered, taking a step towards him in a slightly threatening manner.

Percy held up his hands in surrender. "No, no! Just...you know... two...acquaintances, together. Casual," he explained lamely.

Artemis appeared unconvinced, frowning as she approached. "This better not be a trick, Jackson..." she warned, gripping his shirt collar.

He shook his head, speaking in a softer tone. "Of course not. I'm not like that. I just think you could, you know...do with loosening up a little. Look, I promise not to bother you until graduation, if you agree to come. That's over a year away."

She seemed to consider it for several seconds, but Percy could barely handle the tension. His shower was definitely going to be set on the coldest setting as soon as he got home…

"...Fine. I'll come to the silly fireworks display, but I'm warning you, Jackson… Any funny business, and you'll be going up in flames like the rest of those rockets, got it?" the auburn-haired demon warned, and though Percy utterly believed her, the surrealness of the situation almost got to him.

"Yes ma'am," he swallowed, hiding his laughter.

Artemis released her hold on him, and suddenly he could breathe again. She gave him a smug look of satisfaction, though Percy couldn't help but feel like he had won. "Good," she said, almost to herself, whilst turning on the heel and gliding away, such that Percy watched her retreating, graceful figure with a level of awe and respect that he offered no one else.

"See you on Saturday, Artemis," he smoothly called out after her.

She froze on the spot, and just when Percy thought she was going to offer a polite and normal reply, he got the cold shoulder.

"...Yeah," she said, before sliding away, leaving a thoroughly stunned Percy in deathly silence.

A shark. Definitely a shark.


	2. Artemis I

Artemis glared at the mirror.

The mirror glared back.

For a time, there was silence, whilst a wordless exchange of contempt with the figure before her was carried out.

And then the aggressive hair-brushing began.

"Stupid...smug...green-eyed...firework-loving…...boy..." she muttered between stroke, gritting her teeth as the bristles caught knot after knot of her post-workout, post-showered locks.

The viscous, incessant vibrations from her phone signalled that she was running late, not that she cared. Or at least, that's what she told herself. The fact that she was rushing around, trying to make herself look presentable, sort of contradicted that statement.

A feeling of self-loathing passed through her form.

She so cared…...but then again, she really didn't.

Maybe it was the sense of self-pride and respect her father had drilled into her skull.

Yeah. Pride. That was it.

"Psht. Lame," a voice behind said, making her jump with a shrill yelp, and instinctively whirl around, launching her hair-brush right across the room at the source, who sat on her bed lazily.

It met with thin air. And her book shelf.

"That wasn't very nice," the voice tutted, and Artemis flicked her eyes to her wardrobe, groaning loudly as silver met green.

The figment of her imagination smirked back at her in that infuriatingly hot way, from the top of the furniture, legs swinging restlessly.

She held up a finger before he could open his mouth again. "Not tonight," Artemis glared, sliding across the room to grab her hairbrush, before returning to the mirror; her brushing somehow more...violent than before.

"Someone's touchy. Have you thought about doing yoga?" his stupid voice sounded. Artemis couldn't get enough of it.

"I don't need to do yoga. I need some peace and quiet," she told him. Well. Herself.

"You wanted peace and quiet, so you decided to go to a fireworks display? What's your GPA again?" he taunted smoothly.

Artemis's hand clenched tighter around the brush, before she relaxed slightly, trading it for a silver elastic band, and quickly gathering her hair into a crude, but neat ponytail, with just a few strands of those smooth, red locks poking out across her temples.

"Bite me. I'm talking about school," she eventually said, though she knew exactly what her mind was going to respond with next.

The figment of her colourful imagination gave a predictable snort of derision.

"Uh-huh. So you agree to go to a fireworks display, and in exchange, this one guy will stop sitting next to you at lunch. Right. Because that sounds totally reasonable. And what are you going to do for the other seventy kids in the room? A five-course meal in a restaurant downtown? A two-week cruise in the Bahamas, perhaps?" he mocked her, and Artemis didn't need to turn around to know he was giving her that shit-eating grin that made her utterly furious, and yet utterly weak, all at once.

"Shut up," she hissed, putting her crescent-shaped earrings on - a gift from her step-father. One that she had never worn before, or even thought to. "I can handle the rest of them. It's just yo-him," she corrected, gazing at herself in the mirror, before giving a satisfied nod at her appearance...only for her face to fall and her eyes roll. She whirled around, glaring at the figure, who could barely contain his laughter.

Artemis raised her brush threateningly. "No."

The smirk only widened. "Those earrings… Never worn them before… Sounds like you're making an effort for Percy… Sounds like you care what he thinks about you…" those sea-green eyes sparkled, obviously baiting Artemis.

"Don't you dare," she hissed dangerously, but the deep sanctum of locked-away, forbidden thoughts, was not to be denied.

"It's almost as if...you like him…" he finished, his eyebrows flickering upwards suggestively, in a manner that only served to rile Artemis up more than she already was.

Quite predictably, the temperature in the room lowered as those feelings slapped her readily on the cheek. Her instinctive response was anger, and while it veiled over that same strong wave of confusion that she felt in Percy's presence, her defensive response always topped anything more rational, crumbling though it was.

"I do not like him!" she responded darkly, chewing on the words with an air of finality to them, but given the fact that her conscience merely sat there, smirking down at her with that big, fat elephant, Artemis was beginning to feel like she was losing the fight. She could barely believe those five words anymore herself.

'Not liking him' was quickly turning into 'so what if I like him', and still, those bottomless sea-green eyes were ingrained deeply within her mind. It was a battle, she realised. Her mind was telling her two things at once; the consequences of one being a confusing plateau that she couldn't define or see; of mystery, want, adventure, and ardour.

The other was grey. Familiar in its stagnation, but devoid of fulfilment. The safe path. It was what Artemis saw when she looked in the mirror each day; a girl going nowhere, and yet was telling herself that things would be better in the future, as she had done for the last six months.

Things were not better, though, and it was beginning to feel like an excuse; a justification to remain shielded, closed off, and whole.

She was living in the past, for a future that was not coming, whilst the present was slowly slipping by, waiting for her, calling for her, as it always had done. There had never been a green-eyed devil to pull her in, that being said.

Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, her dad chose that moment of internal turmoil to open the door to her room, making Artemis jump at the sudden intrusion.

His cold, obsidian eyes surveyed the room once, before centering on the auburn-haired teen in the centre. "Who are you talking to?" he asked flatly, and quite abruptly, Artemis's feelings of insecurity and confusion were masked by a frosty-exterior.

She may have been at a crossroads, but each path held the same level of animosity directed towards her father. That was one thing Artemis would always stand by.

"No-one. I'm rehearsing for my drama class," she replied coldly, affixing him with her familiar, hostile stare that made it clear she didn't want to talk to him.

If Atlas appeared hurt by the hatred he had garnered from his daughter, he never showed it. Artemis wondered if he was capable of feeling anything full-stop. They rarely fought, but then they rarely talked anymore either. A year ago, things were different, but a lot can change in a year.

Those black eyes watched her for a few seconds, before Artemis felt them land on her ears, and those moon-shaped ear-rings he had bought her as an appeasement gift. Artemis didn't do appeasement.

His lips twitched, and to her horror, she thought he was actually going to smile. But he didn't.

"Alright..." he eventually said, before leaving unceremoniously, with that same, blank mask on his face as he always had. No change there.

Artemis released a breath she hadn't realised she was holding as the door clicked shut, and her fingers immediately went to her ears to remove the silly, metallic vanity.

She stopped, though, as Percy's face returned to her mind as quickly as it had gone, causing a resigned curse to spill from her lips.

If he could make her question her life path, compel her to wear jewellery from her father, appear in her dreams both day and night, make her so utterly confused that she would attend a fireworks display just to get forty-minutes of quiet at lunchtime (or so she had told herself), well...that could mean only one thing.

The walk to school was something that Artemis both despised and relished. It was quiet, and gave her time to think, but the end-result was always the plain, uninspiring, brick facade of Goode High School.

It was a somewhat different experience walking there at night, however. The streets were quiet, as they usually were, but it felt wrong travelling away from 'home' when the Sun had already set. Or at least, that's how she explained the nerves that made her hands shake within the warmth of her pockets.

"Lame," that whimsical voice repeated between her ears, almost boredly, and though she quickly slapped Percy's devilish smirk out of her mind, she reluctantly agreed with that coherent sentiment.

It was the crowd, Artemis realised. The people. The noise. The laughter. The happiness. All of it induced a feeling of jealousy, and made her think back to a time when she had all of those things. Friends. Family. Fun.

Now distant memories.

The faint glow of the school in the distance made her freeze, swivelling on the spot to gaze back down the way she had come, towards the cold, familiar embrace of her covers, where she could hide from the world and imagine the 'what ifs' of her life. The grey. The stagnant. The safe path.

There was a brief moment of still silence where she actually considered going back, but it was quickly replaced by an unshakable feeling of disgust towards herself.

Weak. Cowardly. Easy. That was not who she was.

National Archery Champion two years running - now that's who she was. Confident. Self-assured. Outgoing.

The image of her bow, gathering dust beneath her bed, crossed her mind, and quite abruptly, the anger she felt towards the world, towards everyone, was replaced by anger towards herself. At her weakness. At her lack of effort.

Artemis swivelled back on the spot, and marched towards Goode, fists clenched tightly to her side. She didn't know why her legs were leading her there, because it definitely wasn't about Percy annoying her at lunch anymore. It wasn't about forty-minutes of quiet.

She just knew she had to, or else nothing would ever change.

Her newfound convictions quickly propelled her through the front-gate, and though she was vaguely aware of several students looking her way, Artemis paid them no heed.

Her mind was focused on one person, and one person only.

She spotted him loitering near the main-entrance, idly tapping away at his thighs with his finger-tips, clearly lost in his own little world. He was in good shape, she thought, and though Artemis wasn't one to keep up with the school's sporting exploits, she knew the swimming team had almost completed a perfect year of straight victories, all because of Percy's prowess in the pool.

It was a fact that both impressed, and angered her, mostly because he was everything she wasn't. She saw her old self in him every time they met. Happy. Athletic. Confident. He was a reminder of her failings, but also a strange beacon of hope, that made her want to leap out and take on the world. That was his true effect on her, she realised.

That being said, Artemis couldn't shake the feeling that there was more to the cocky, raven-haired junior, that met the eye. Even when she was chewing him out publicly, he didn't seem to care. It was almost as if he had been in the situation before, although perhaps Artemis was just imagining that part.

It took her a few seconds to realise she had, in fact, been staring at his oblivious form the whole time, and had he looked around, she was sure there would have been a strong, familiar smirk on his face.

Closing her eyes for a second to prepare for the social rigours that she had become accustomed to over the prior months, Artemis approached silently, stopping a respectable distance away.

"Jackson," she said, perhaps more coldly than she meant, as her gaze hardened into a neutral, patented, 'resting bitch-face'.

Percy jumped, whirling around quite theatrically, before his wide eyes softened upon recognising the auburn-haired junior. The amusing look tugged at Artemis's heartstrings a little, and her lips twitched restlessly.

"Artemis. You're looking beau-" he began, but Artemis held up a hand before he could finish and walked past him, or else the smile that was threatening to break free on her face would have become visible to his deep, green eyes. That, and the red tint to her cheeks at the implied compliment.

"Save it, Jackson. I'm here for the colourful explosions; not your verbal diarrhoea," she lied.

"Aw, and there I was thinking you actually enjoyed the sound of my voice," he cooed childishly in reply, his voice teeming with amusement.

Artemis did, in fact, enjoy the sound of his voice, but there was no way she'd let him know that.

There was a brief period of comfortable silence before Artemis turned around. "What's the plan, Jackson? Are we going to stand out here all night, or are we actually going somewhere?"

Percy's eyes sparkled with the promise of mischief.

"Of course I have a plan. It involves breaking into the school, though," was his nonchalant response.

The silver-eyed archer deadpanned.

"You can't be serious..." she said, but the look on Percy's face told her all she needed to know. The school was probably deserted inside, but even so, whatever he was planning can't have been worth the risk of eternal damnation. Or after-school detention for life.

"Is the mighty Artemis scared?" he smirked, taking a step towards her and forcing every fibre in her body to tense up.

Still, she gave him a look of obvious incredulity. "Er, yeah? We could be expelled, you idiot. I'm sure you'd survive, but trust me, my dad will crucify me," she replied, though even as she said it, Artemis doubted her father would deign to care. Or if he did, at least he might say more than ten words to her at a time.

Percy rolled his eyes. "Chill out, Arty. No one's going to catch us. I've done this before," he said quite confidently, and though she wanted to believe him, the use of that nickname was a declaration of war.

"Forgive me for not handing you my vote of confidence," Artemis retorted, folding her arms and gazing at him with a look of scepticism.

The green-eyed devil held a trump card, though. "Oh, so you'd rather mingle with the crowd on the football pitches?" he gleamed, with that lop-sided grin, knowing he had her trounced.

"I thought that was generally what happens at a fireworks display…" she responded quite lamely, not wanting to admit that the idea of mingling with the Goode crowd was her idea of hell at that very moment.

Percy's eyes bored into her own, making her shift uncomfortably on the spot for a second or two, before her will cracked, and it was her turn to roll her eyes. "Fine… But if we get caught, I'm taking you down to hell with me," she glared, eliciting a laugh from Percy's lips that quickly wiped the sour look from her face.

"Sounds like a date," he grinned, and before Artemis had a chance to process those words, his fingers interlaced with her own, and she was dragged inside unceremoniously.

The eeriness of deserted school halls was not something Artemis would soon forget. She half-expected zombified teachers to jump out of classroom-doors and pounce on her as they ran past - Old Mrs. Thatch getting her revenge for all that missed homework last term.

It was a frighteningly new, taboo sensation, to be breaking the rules so brazenly, given the thin-tightrope she walked on in school at the best of times. She couldn't pretend to even care, though, and in any case, she was concentrating on the fact her hand was being firmly held by Percy's as they ran down the maze of halls.

Yes. He was definitely holding hers. She wasn't reciprocating. Not at all.

Part of her wanted to let go; most of her wanted the opposite.

Her lips curled backwards, and to her horror, Artemis realised her traitorous mouth was seconds away from a full-blown smile. She quickly put a stop to that nonsense, but the hand-holding continued. It was easy to get lost, after all...

Percy led her to the staircase, and soon the tranquil building was filled with the sound of their echoing footsteps clambering up to the third floor, and the corridor beyond. In fact, Artemis had assumed he was simply leading her to one of the science classrooms for a private, nightly viewing of the display, but the sight of the 'Strictly-No-Entry-Under-Pain-Of-Immediate-Death' sign that marked the roof-access door made her think he had gone one better.

There was a certain exhilarating thrill to it all that Artemis hadn't felt for a long time; a rush of excitement that could only come from breaking the rules, but different because she was sharing it with someone else. Though all Percy would receive was her admonishment for such a silly idea if he ever asked if she was having fun.

In fact, what Percy did receive was her face clattering into his shoulder when he very abruptly skidded to a halt a mere ten yards from the skylight.

"Hey-" she began, but Percy's index finger pressed against her lips, silencing her whilst his brow furrowed in concentration, clearly spooked by something.

For a few tense seconds, there was complete silence, save the muffled laughter from the rambunctious party going on outside, and Artemis was just about to say he was hearing things, before a door to one of the science labs opened ahead of them.

Out stepped a figure, who, even in the dark corridor, Artemis could tell was the janitor, grooving to music that blared loudly out of the earbuds he was wearing. And even though the man was clearly lost in his own little world, Percy took no chances; an arm yanking Artemis backwards, and around into the second corridor that joined with the first.

Dark shadows obscured their figures, and the lockers, too, provided a dark background for them to blend in against. The rush to evade detection meant it took a second or two longer than usual to notice someone pressing against her.

More specifically, Percy was pressing her against the lockers. Chest to chest. Hands planted either side of her head. Face inches away.

…Intimate.

Her first instinct was to kill, but she found she simply couldn't breathe in such close proximity, as though the boy had sucked the very air from her lungs. The rebellious muscles in her legs, too, locked up, and the auburn-haired archer stood, frozen to the spot, gazing upwards at the green-eyed trouble-maker, who was easily a head-taller than she was.

Oblivious to his paralytic effect on Artemis, Percy's eyes watched the corridor, observing the janitor as he slowly 'boogied' his way past, until the music faded into nothing, and the muffled laughter from outside, once more filled the void.

Green then met silver, and if anything, the sight of Percy's eyes gazing into her own was enough to deepen the crimson flush that had taken refuge on her cheeks. He didn't pull away, and by that point, Artemis wasn't sure he wanted him to. He was waiting for her to make the move.

Percy was making her weak. Again.

It was alien to her, the feeling of being trapped, yet not uncomfortable. Forced to live in the moment, rather than actively avoiding it.

Instincts brought her eyes downwards to his lips, but she couldn't bring herself to do what she ought to have done, and the chance went fleeting by an instant later, when bright flash illuminated the dimly lit halls, followed by a shrill screech that ended with a reverberating bang that seemed to shake them both out of their respective dazes.

Percy cursed under his breath.

"Shit. The fireworks. Come on, Arty!" he called out over the sound of intense barrage; releasing Artemis of her 'twin-bicep prison', and disappearing up to the roof, leaving her to reel from the onslaught of emotions for a few seconds.

At the very least, she could breathe again, but her flustered cheeks and the weird 'fizz' in the pit of her stomach told her she had 'it' bad. In fairness, she had actually already accepted that, deep down at least. But Percy didn't know that. Or so she thought.

He did now.

With a groan, Artemis rubbed her palms into her eyes before attempting to compose herself with sharp swats to her cheeks, and deep breaths. It was all so confusing for her, but that being said, she hadn't felt so alive with feelings for a long time. Percy had given her that much, at least.

Sighing, she walked through the roof-access door, and up the short flight of stairs and into the cool, explosion-filled night.

The pyrotechnics were loud, but far enough away that Artemis could hear herself think.

Percy was leaning against the parapet, observing the festivities afar, clutching a bottle of beer in each hand. He looked up as she approached, smiling with that stupid grin again and offered her a bottle.

"Underage drinking? And I thought better of you, Jackson," she said, but surprised herself by taking the offered drink without much hesitation at all. It would calm her racing thoughts, she lamely reasoned with herself, though silently wished he had something stronger to completely dull the redoubtable feelings that were in conflict with her repressed persona.

"Look who's talking, Miss Perfect. I was expecting a five minute argument before I convinced you to drink it," Percy replied, eyes twinkling at what must have been a surprising sight. Artemis felt the same well.

She shrugged, taking a swig, and trying to remain calm and collected, despite the episode moments before. "Thought you wanted me to loosen up. Can't complain when I do, kelp-head."

"Touché. You're proving to be less of a challenge than I thought," he baited her, amusement seeping into his voice.

Artemis decided to bite. "I can be difficult if you really want me to. Maybe scream a little and tell them you kidnapped me to the roof," she said, taking another sip to hide the curl of her lips.

"You wouldn't. You like me too much to throw me under the bus," the raven-haired swimmer stated quite matter-of-factly, making Artemis's heart pang at how true that was.

She turned her head away from the display to stare at Percy with an evil glint in her silver eyes. "Maybe. Not enough that I wouldn't throw you off the roof, though," she said, gesturing to the parapet they were leaning on, as well as the forty-foot drop.

A few seconds of staring forced her facade to crumble, and her lips curled into a genuine smile, though she quickly looked away to hide it, albeit unsuccessfully.

"Did you just make a joke?" he smirked.

"I never joke, Jackson," she tried to reply seriously, but her smile was not to be denied, even as she gazed over the field at the explosions of colour.

Quite by accident, all seemed okay in the world, for once. Away from home-life, and noisy students; with Percy she felt...at ease all of a sudden.

The incident in the hallway was overwhelming, but Artemis reasoned that it had been akin to running before she could walk. Now a respectable distance away, their banter flowed smoothly, and naturally. It made her hopeful for the future, but simultaneously terrified. She had tasted the waters of life, or rather, had been reminded of their scintillating effects once again, but it also opened her eyes as to how terrible she had been. To everyone.

She was tired of that Artemis. The repressed Artemis. The closed-off Artemis. The wasteful Artemis.

Her eyes were opened, but at that moment, she just felt...down.

Next to her, she caught sight of Percy staring, and met his gaze without trying to hide her drained expression.

There was hesitation in those bright, green orbs, but his words peeled away the very last vestiges of resistance in her body.

"What happened to you, Artemis?" he asked quietly, a mixture of concern, sympathy, and other things Artemis couldn't recognise on his face.

The question caught her off guard a little, but...she had an inkling of where the conversation was going to lead, and that same fear intermingled with her need to follow it through. "What do you mean?" she replied.

The raven-haired boy rubbed the back of his head nervously, averting eye-contact momentarily, before continuing. "I dunno, I mean… You're very defensive in school, and you won't let anyone near you… But the instant we're on our own, you're the complete opposite. Just want to know what gives, is all..."

Her lips twitched, the urge to defend herself strong, but ultimately losing out to that tiredness of everything in her life. Everything she had become. "Is that the real reason you brought me up here, Jackson? Thought you'd deign to know what's happening in my life?" Artemis retorted, though her words lacked the bitterness or heat of her usual arguments. She just sounded...world-weary.

"Pretty much. I don't even like fireworks that much, but considering we went from you wanting to punch me on Monday, to you admitting that you thought about me daily on Thursday… I thought I'd see how far I could go," he explained.

"For what it's worth, I still want to punch you," the girl sighed, taking a sip of her beer, before settling it down on that parapet, feeling the barriers around her crumble.

"See? That's what I'm talking about. It's a convincing act, Artemis. You had me fooled for the first few days, but this is the real you; cracking jokes, drinking beer, at ease with life. Not the bitter viper I see sitting on her own during lunchtime, who would sooner rip your head off than talk to you," Percy continued, jamming the knife in deep. Sure, he was only telling her what she already knew, but to hear it aloud from someone else? It really hammered it home, and her eyes stung with the barely contained tears she should have released a long time ago.

"What do you want me to say, Jackson?" she whispered, meeting his gaze, which softened at the despairing look Artemis sent his way.

"What happened to you?" his tender reply came.

She hesitated momentarily. For the last seven months, she had tried so hard to forget, to study hard, to ensure her future, but as hard as it was to open up, she knew she had to. Or else she would have no future to speak of. She'd be that same loner at lunch forever. And that was a lot worse than being laid bare, picked apart by the boy in front of her, she decided.

"My mom and sister died. Twenty-fourth of October. Car accident. Dead on Thursday, buried on Saturday, moved to New York on Monday, back to school on Wednesday," she quivered, barely containing herself as the memories of the worst two weeks of her life came flooding back.

The call.

The funeral.

The numbness.

Zoë was fourteen years old, and her best-friend. Gone.

The tears stung her cheeks, in bitter-sweet release, but with a sniffle, she continued.

"And you know, I thought I could get through half a year, just concentrating on my studies, like my father told me to, and then I could grieve over Summer. I had no friends to cry on, no family who could understand, so I did what I had to do. I tuned everyone and everything out, and let nothing back in. What else can you do when you have no outlet? But then you had to come into my life, with your stupidly handsome smirk, and those fucking beautiful eyes. You broke me, Percy Jackson. It took you five days. You got what you wanted. The 'bitter viper' is wide open here," she ranted, with those red-brimmed silver orbs gazing into Percy's with unbridled intensity; his own expression distraught, matching exactly how she felt.

"I'm...I'm so fucking sorry, Artemis…" he said, seemingly unable to find the words, and though he stepped towards her for an embrace, Artemis stopped him with a palm against his chest.

"I don't want your pity, Jackson…" she sniffled, wiping the saltiness from her cheeks and eyes, trying to compose herself as her chest recoiled from the barely-contained sobs.

"You don't have my pity. You have my empathy. I...lost my father last year, and it was only with my friends and family that I got through it. But...what your dad did was wrong, Artemis. So, so wrong," he stated; his quiet voice going some way to soothing her, but she had to look away from him. His admission explained the hidden sadness she had caught behind his eyes. She should have known. She saw it everyday in the mirror.

The thought of her father, however, brought feelings of anger and resentment to the forefront of her mind. Her failings were numerous, she would admit...but his crime was unforgivable. "I begged him to let me stay. I...knew it was wrong, but after what had happened, I just had no energy to fight. It angers me every time I think about it, to the point where I can barely look at my dad in the eye anymore. I'll never forgive him for what he did. Never," she promised, and that was one thing she wouldn't be swayed on.

"Artemis… I…" Percy stammered, seemingly unable to find the words, and Artemis sympathised. In a way, she felt as if she had used him, but her appreciation for what he had done was boundless, because suddenly, the world didn't seem so small anymore.

Her silver orbs met his vibrant greens, lips curling into a slight smile that didn't quite match her tear-streaked face. "Now you know, Jackson. The big secret. The reason I sit alone at lunch."

"I just...wish I'd sat at that table sooner. The day you walked into school," he said, taking all she had said in.

Artemis brushed his warrantless guilt aside. "So I could use you as a pity blanket? No way…"

"I would have been glad to be there with you…"

She sighed at that. When it came down to it, opening up had been so easy, and that fact ticked away at the back of her mind. She'd come to terms with it someday; her stupidity, and blind obedience. Concentrating on her grades was the worst decision she could ever have made, because, ironically, the result was the opposite, as well as her miserable home and school life.

"Yeah, maybe. Hindsight's a wonderful thing, huh?" she stated, the bitterness turning into resignation at that simple fact. It was pointless thinking about it, after all. What was done, was done, and though it was new territory, she could see the light at the end of the tunnel.

"So what now? You do realise that I won't leave you alone for the rest of the year, and next, right?" Percy pressed, and Artemis felt a great measure of comfort and relief hearing those words. She wasn't fixed, by any means, and there was still work to do. Despite owing her nothing, she hoped he would be there with her, every step of the way.

Still. She couldn't give him the satisfaction of knowing that.

"I figured you as a man of your word, Percy," she said, with mock hardness to her voice.

"I am, but when my hand is forced, I'll do what I have to do. Even if it means removing a certain table from the cafeteria," he retorted, eyes glinting with mischief at the suggestion. Artemis believed he would, as well.

Her silver-orbs narrowed. "Don't do me any favours…"

Percy merely smiled. "Sorry, Artemis, but it's my duty to look out for my friends. Especially the ones that could have me on the floor in a chokehold within ten-seconds flat," the boy stated, and she couldn't stop herself from rolling her eyes, reciprocating his smile.

"Dork."

"Nerd."

"Kelp-head."

"Moonbeam."

Her cheeks may have flushed at the nickname, but the natural back-and-forth lifted her spirits to pre-admission levels. Those silver-orbs contained sadness still, but it was open. Naked. For all to see. She'd mourn her mother and sister properly soon enough, and when she returned home, she was already dreaming up a few choice words for her father.

At that moment, however, her eyes turned to the night-sky, no longer light by the flashes of the display, which had long-since finished. The silence was comfortable, and one she would enjoy sharing with him sometime again, but it was getting late, and the spectators had thinned until just a few stragglers were making their way out from the fields.

Fortunately, they had no more encounters with the dancing-janitor, and pausing in front of the school-steps, Artemis faced her newly-appointed psychiatrist.

"Thank you, Percy. For fighting for me. Cause' I'd given up long ago fighting for myself. I can't promise overnight changes, but...I'm happy to try and be myself again," she said, a flame burning in her silver orbs once again.

The boy gave a knowing grin. "You're worth fighting for."

A week ago, she wouldn't have believed him, but a lot can change in that time, and Artemis hadn't felt such clarity in a long time. She was going to fight, not just for herself, but for Percy too. She owed him that much.

"See you Monday?"

"I'll see you Monday."

She must have been ten yards away from his receding figure, before he called out to her.

"Hey, Artemis…" he said.

Her head turned, eyes flickering quizzically at his cocky expression.

"Do you really think my eyes are beautiful?"

"Bite me, Jackson," was her immediate reply, before turning around, and gliding into the night.

He didn't see her smile.


	3. Artemis II

Artemis had always wanted to be an Olympian. Or at least, from the moment she had held a bow in her hands for the very first time, she had wanted to be an Olympian.

It was an undramatic sport; primitive in a sense, harkening back to the days when the men & women who used them were as primitive as the bow itself. That was the appeal. To know what it was to be human, you had to fire an arrow, where upon which, all your hopes and dreams rested.

Mankind was not to be apex without it.

Modern bows may have been made of fancy, space-age materials, using intricate systems of counterweights and precision sights, but the fundamentals remained as they had been sixty-thousand years ago.

Archer. Bow. Arrow. Target.

Posture. Strength. Serenity.

Five colours. Ten rings.

In Artemis's mind, there was only one that mattered. All the others were of no consequence, and therefore, didn't exist.

Yellow. Ten. Bullseye.

A flicker of doubt passed through her head as she gazed down at the target seventy metres away - a range that suddenly seemed impossible, despite looking utterly certain the previous eleven times she had found her mark.

Her shoulders and arms burned in protest at their abusive treatment, and that flicker of doubt grew into something more, until the mental strain became too much, and her hands gripped the bow until her skin was a milky-white, subtly shaking, despite the vice-like hold.

She had just forty seconds to fire.

Those bright, silvery orbs closed momentarily as she attempted to compose herself. Ashamedly, her mind, at that moment, wandered.

The smiling faces of her deceased mother and sister almost defeated her. She would have given anything just to see them in the vast crowd behind her. Their support would have brought her over the line, and further still.

It was a bitter thought - one born out of mental and physical exhaustion, she quickly realised, after swallowing back a sob at their memory.

She could do this. She was strong. She'd do them proud, whether they were with her or not.

Thirty seconds to fire.

Artemis squeezed her eyes shut further, forcing her thoughts to drift, aimlessly and without destination, until another smiling face presented itself in her head. This one had a pair of deep, green eyes that liberated her to the wide, open world.

Percy.

Even now, she could picture his stupidly-handsome grin somewhere in the crowd behind her, silently daring her to be the best; to be what she knew, deep down, she could be.

 _"I don't think I can do this, Percy…" she had said to him, staring through the window of the cafeteria door._

_The vaguely muffled shouting coming from within was an assault on her sense; almost unbearably so. But that wasn't really why her muscles refused to draw her in through the rabbit hole._

__

__

_A single digit raised her chin until her eyes met his in a brilliant show of teal-argent contrast. His whole presence exuded a homely warmth that caught her in a vicious riptide that refused to let her go._

__

__

_"Artemis…" he breathed, the word sending a ripple down her spine, as it always did when it was uttered from his lips. "I'd never force you to do anything you didn't want to do. You know that. Just tell me...what are you afraid of? That people will think less of you because you've changed? That you think without your walls you appear weak and brittle to them? I see a fighter, Artemis. Honest. Persistent. Pragmatic. I'm with you, no matter what. If you trust me...fight with me now, and I'll prove I'm right…" he finished, offering out his hand._

__

__

_With every syllable he uttered, she could feel her resistance crumbling. He was right, of course, and though he hadn't said it, Artemis knew that to turn away was a cowardly act, and she was done running._

__

__

_"I trust you, Percy…" she answered after some time, caving fully beneath the gaze of his honest eyes, and letting her hand fall into his. The simple skin-to-skin contact was electrifying, and it took her a second to realise that he wasn't about to let go anytime soon._

__

__

_It steeled her nerves immensely, but even so, her legs refused to make the first step. To her relief, Percy did it for her, stepping next to her so that their shoulders were touching, and then parting the doors open, leading her through._

__

__

_Immediately, a huge weight felt as though it had been lifted off her shoulders, only to be replaced by a blinding, deafening assault on her senses. The kids sounded unnaturally loud in their mindless chatter, and she felt as though every single pair of eyes in the place had swivelled to stare at her, even though she knew they weren't._

__

__

_Subconsciously, she pressed into Jackson's side a little more...only to pull away immediately after._

__

__

_She didn't need carrying. These were her demons._

__

__

_Still, the eyes seemed to follow her with every step, and the deafening roar quickly felt like an inescapable whisper to her ears. Guilt ate away at mortal coil. There were people present that she had been less than respectful to, and though she felt she deserved a lot worse than a few weird looks, it still tore at her._

__

__

_A firm squeeze to her hand brought her downcast eyes upwards, meeting Percy's greens'._

__

__

_He simply smiled at her, and quite involuntarily, her lips tugged backwards into a small one of her own. It may not have fully met her eyes, but his comforting presence did more than he could have possibly known to expel her doubts, and open her shell._

__

__

_He wasn't carrying her. They were walking the path together._

__

__

_Percy's friends were sitting at a table mere metres from the door, but it nonetheless felt like a marathon. They were an interesting bunch, Artemis had to admit. Intimidating in a way, and when they approached, she could feel a few openly gawk at the sight of Percy holding hands with her._

__

__

_Their shocked expressions quickly morphed into welcoming, if cautious, smiles, though she suspected that might have been because Percy had sent a glare their way._

__

__

_Artemis understood that reaction perfectly, and did her best to exude an air of friendliness._

__

__

_"Guys and gals. This is Artemis," he announced, with his usual panache and confidence. "Artemis. The guys and gals."_

__

__

_There was a chorus of 'heys' and smiles, and Artemis reciprocated with a small wave. A few of them she recognised, such as Calypso, who was in Artemis's calculus class, as well as the fidgeting Latino elf that clung to her arm. Leo, she remembered; the guy who blew up his chemistry lab in fifth grade. An impressive feat._

__

__

_The rest were unknown to her, with maybe the exception of a few fleeting glances in the hallways._

__

__

_Together with Percy, they made one of the most diverse groups of people she had ever seen._

__

__

_There was Reyna, and the blonde-haired Californian girl resting her head on the Latina's shoulder, Annabeth. Jason, and his choppy-haired girlfriend, Piper. Nico and Will. Frank and Hazel. And right at the end was Percy's cousin, Thalia._

__

__

_She was the only person who didn't seem surprised to see her, and in fact, was smirking directly at her._

__

__

_Artemis's brow furrowed, eyes narrowing slightly in a quizzical manner as she gave the punkish tomboy a once over. That is, until she spotted the Topoint bow case seated between the girls' legs._

__

__

_Immediately, she was intrigued, letting Percy's hand drift away from hers as she seated herself opposite, lost in the moment._

__

__

_"You shoot?" Artemis asked, eyes a tad wide._

__

__

_"Definitely. And a little birdie tells me you shoot recurve too," the girl glinted, eyes sparkling as the flicked to the raven-haired boy now seated at Artemis's shoulder._

__

__

_"You've been talking about me?" she said, turning her head to face Percy, and his red-tinted cheeks._

__

__

_"Well, I…" he started lamely, but Thalia cut him off, seemingly enjoying the way Percy squirmed. Artemis was liking her already._

__

__

_"Oh, he doesn't stop talking about you. All good stuff, don't worry. Although...when he mentioned something about you being the best archer in the state at ninety paces, I had assumed he had banged his head quite hard," Thalia gleamed, and Artemis could see the unspoken challenge in those electric-blue orbs._

__

__

_The eyes of the table were on them both, Artemis sensed, but she paid them no heed._

__

__

_"Do I smell a contest?" the auburn-haired girl replied, fingers twitching in barely contained merriment, as her shell crumbled without her even realising it._

__

__

_"My place. After school tomorrow. You can bring seaweed-brain along to referee, if you feel so inclined," she taunted, much to Percy's chagrin._

__

__

_"Hey, I-" he began, but Artemis was already cutting him off._

__

__

_"Done. I'll even give you a few pointers for free," she smirked, to which Thalia reciprocated, and from there, the conversation drifted from their teachers and subjects, all the way to college and the future beyond amongst all the members of the little gang. All except Percy. He mostly stayed silent, but Artemis could sense his eyes watch her as she talked; that handsome smile painted across his lips._

__

__

_Lunch was over before she knew it, and the weight that had been holding her down at the start had simply vanished. Jumping the hurdle had made her feel better than she had done for a long time._

__

__

_She grabbed Percy's hand before he could be whisked away with the crowd, hanging back until the cafeteria was practically deserted._

__

__

_"I never did thank you for...you know...last week, up on the roof… And today… Just, everything, really..." she said lamely, though when words couldn't suffice, her lips did instead, and she pressed them to his cheek in a fleeting kiss, before disappearing down the hallway into the crowd, before he could respond, or even see her deep, crimson blush. She was falling for him hard, but not only that; she owed him so much._

Ten seconds to fire.

Artemis smiled at the memory, the wave of determination it brought forth. She didn't have Percy to guide her around the wall this time, save, perhaps, his infuriating smirk ingrained in her mind. It was down to her. She knew what she had to do.

Yellow. Ten. Bullseye.

She plucked an arrow from her belt-quiver, and let the cool carbon shaft run through her fingers, before notching it securely against the string.

The air was completely still, and the crowd behind her, totally silent. They didn't exist in Artemis's reality, save the one man she cared for most.

She couldn't fail now. Not after everything she had lost. Not after everything she had then been given. She owed him this.

The string was heavy in her fingers as she pulled on it; her shoulders hurled in protest, but she bit back the pain, her breathing slowing to an absolute crawl, until her eyes were aiming down the sights at her target, the string drawn right up against her cheek.

Yellow. Ten. Bullseye.

She released the arrow, remaining motionless until a resounding thud rang in her ears, and across the stadia beyond.

The delay between the impact, and the score appearing on the screen was torturous, though can't have been more than a few seconds. The instant it showed that big, perfect ten, Artemis was off, ditching her bow where she had stood, and making for the crowd that roared boisterously.

She found him easily, jumping the security cordon to reach him, and smashing her lips against his whilst salty tears obscured her vision. His warmth enveloped her and made her hyper-aware of the relief and euphoria she was feeling, though pulled back after several eternal seconds so that his forehead was resting on hers.

"You're going to the Olympics," he hollered over the noise of the crowd, his pride and happiness almost making her buckle. Once more, she found herself lost in his eyes, unable to think of anything else, until she was pressing her lips against his once more.

"We're going to the Olympics," she corrected.

He laughed, and their lips danced, right up until the moment the security guards gently pried them apart, and Artemis caught a fleeting glimpse of his devilish visage, before she was spirited away to the podium.

It didn't matter, though.

Percy was always with her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's a wrap. A big cheesy wrap. In fact, I don't think I've seen anything cheesier.
> 
> If there's a place PJO fans get their fix besides this crumbling place, please do let me know. This was originally posted on FF, but I'll probably be active on AO3 from now on, seeing as it doesn't seem to crash every week. If anyone has any ideas they think I'd like, feel free to send me a PM.
> 
> Cheers. <3


End file.
